


The Ten Year Plan

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-07
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-12-10 18:10:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/788630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This is just like that time in high school when you called the skeevy drug dealer and gave him phone sex for free mushrooms.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ten Year Plan

**Author's Note:**

> This story is written in the Babylon universe, a universe I always get ideas in (because it revolves around music) but they never seem to translate well to paper. This one came to me from listening to Teenage Fanclub’s The Concept too many times and not being able to fall asleep even after taking sleeping pills. That might be obvious soon.

_She wears denim wherever she goes  
Says she's gonna get some records by the status quo  
Oh yeah, ohhh yeah.  
Still she won't be forced against her will  
Says she don’t do drugs but she does the pill  
Oh yeah, ohhh yeah_.

“I didn't want to hurt you, ohhh yeah.” Emily and Penelope sang in unison. “I didn't want to hurt you, ohhh yeah.”

“I should probably stop listening to this song.” Penelope said. She held the bottle of Grey Goose up to her lips, chugged it, and handed it to Emily. Taking the jar of olives from her best friend, Penelope ate two. They called them ghetto martinis…it had been a specialty since they were in their teens. The vodka had gotten better over the years.

“Sweetie, you are not OK.” Emily drank some vodka.

“That’s the crazy part; I am OK.”

“The really crazy part is listening to your ex’s favorite song on repeat, drinking ghetto martinis, and saying you're OK.”

“I wonder if he plays it for her.” Penelope said. “It’s not fair to hate that idea but I hate it. It’s the only song Kevin knows on acoustic guitar except for Fire and Rain. That’s so cheesy but it’s true. ”

“If you hate being apart then why are you apart?”

“It’s so complicated, Em.” Penelope sighed and took the bottle. “Its way more complicated than I thought it would be. I don’t know why though, why the hell did I think it wouldn’t be complicated?”

“Complicated happens to be my specialty. You know you can always spill your guts to me. You’re my best friend and I'm here to listen. I also just want you to get it off your chest. Holding it all in and smiling through the pain is so bad for you. That shit causes ulcers, Penelope, and wrinkles.”

“Kevin and I got together when I was 17. We were in awe of each other. Do you remember the night we met? That creep was hitting on me all night; he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Kevin just came out of nowhere and got in the middle of it.”

“He kinda got the shit kicked out of him.” Emily looked at Penelope.

“I know. Then the three of us ended up walking home in the rain singing New Order songs. Kevin kept doing that dumb robot voice. I fell in love with him that night.”

“I know. You also got a horrible cold since we walked like 40 blocks in the pouring rain.”

“My sneezing and stuff totally covered up the fact that I was plastered that night. I thought we’d be together forever.”

“Are you saying you don’t love him anymore?” Emily asked.

“Hell no!” Penelope shook her head and took the vodka bottle again. “I'm gonna love that boy forever. We just both need to move on.”

“He moved on a little too quickly for my liking.” 

“Gina’s awesome; don’t be that way Emily. It’s been 5 months since we ended it…I couldn’t expect him not to date. It’s not easy to see them together but I'm handling it.”

“Look, I know what its like to still care about someone but end it with them.” Emily said. “Everyone thought you and Kevin were perfect.”

“OK, here's the analogy I used with Rossi and Strauss when they couldn’t even pretend not to be devastated about the break up. Kevin was in love with me, I know that he was. I loved him too. He didn't want to change me but there was no way I was ever going to be the woman who wanted to settle down and marry and have kids. At least not right now. It’s not in the plan. I think he was sticking around because he was scared.”

“Where's the analogy?”

“Oh right. It’s like leaving home for the first time. You can't wait to break out; live by your own rules and do your own thing. Then the doubts start to creep in…what if I'm murdered living alone. 

“Who is going to feed my cat if I leave? I barely know how to balance a checkbook; et cetera, et cetera. I was home to Kevin. Its not that he didn't love me, he did. I think he was just scared to love someone else after a while.”

“Whoa,” Emily nodded. “That’s deep.”

“Really?” Penelope looked at her.

“Yeah. Leaving someone you love is hard, even when you know it’s the best thing for you both.”

“We’re going to be friends.”

“Really?”

“I hope so…I'm trying. The wounds are still raw, that’s to be expected. I'm not going to give up though. This boy means so much to me and just because we’re living apart now doesn’t mean we just forget about the fact that we grew up together. But the other Sam asked me out on Wednesday. Morgan and I dragged Spencer to Shenanigans and saw him there.”

“The other Sam is cool.” Emily said.

“I know.”

“When are you going out?”

“I told him that this coming week was insane.” Penelope replied. “So we decided to have like a late lunch/early dinner on Sunday.”

“We have a gig Saturday night.” Emily said.

“I know.”

“You're getting drunk with me…no excuses.”

“Oh hell yeah. That’s why I told the other Sam that we’d meet up at five. I should be somewhat presentable by then.”

“Does the other Sam know that we call him the other Sam?”

“I don’t think so. He’s really just the other Sam to us.”

Emily nodded, sighing and leaning back into her pillows. They were quiet for a while, just listening to the song, drinking, and thinking their thoughts. Emily grabbed a pack of Ziganovs from the nightstand and lit one. She offered one to Penelope and the blonde nodded. She was mostly a social smoker but was in the mood for one right now. Emily lit Penelope’s before lighting her own.

“What man in his right mind would wait ten years?” Emily asked. “What person would?”

“Huh?”

“I have a ten year plan, Penelope. I'm going to do this for the next ten years. I'm perfectly content being almost famous. I don’t need to sell out stadiums and reach Beyonce levels. 

“I'm happy with our tour mini-bus and the Holiday Inn Selects. One more decade and then I can go and do something normal like raise kids or get a degree. But why would Hotch want to wait a decade. He's not getting any younger. No one wants to be a 50 year old first time dad.”

“He loves you Emily.” Penelope reasoned. Well she reasoned as well as she could. They were on their second bottle of vodka.

“Kevin loves you.”

“It’s not the same…you shouldn’t compare it. Are you sure its Hotch and not you?”

“I should call him.” Emily reached for her cell phone. She passed the Grey Goose off to Penelope.

“Don’t do that sweetie, you're drunk.”

“I’ll have you know I'm mostly sober.”

“Some of the most insane things have happened to us when you were mostly sober.” Penelope said.

“Shh,” Emily put her fingers on her best friend’s lips. “I don’t want him to know you're here.”

“This is just like that time in high school when you called the skeevy drug dealer and gave him phone sex for free mushrooms.”

“Oh my God, we really have known each other too long.”

“What was that guy’s name?” Penelope asked.

“Unfortunately I never forget my fuck ups so you know that I know. It was John Cooley, Matthew’s friend.”

“Eww John Cooley, now I remember. Not one of your finer moments, babe”

“Seriously, you are lucky that I love you so much. I thought I killed everyone who knew about him.”

Emily turned down Teenage Fanclub but didn't turn them off. Then she pressed 5 on her phone. It was ringing. On the third thing Emily remembered she had no idea what time it was. The last thing she wanted was to wake him or scare him. She wondered if Hotch ever got scared.

“Emily?” he picked up. “Are you alright?”

“I love you. I really love you and I know that you might not even be down with my ten year plan and who the hell even stays together that long with the promise of nothing but I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I don’t think its ever going to be perfect.” She said.

“Yeah, tell me about it. Are you drunk?”

“I'm practically sober.”

“That’s what I thought.” Hotch smirked. “I’ll be in town for your show next weekend. We can talk about it then…if you even remember this conversation.”

“I'm being serious, Aaron.”

“I know you are.” His voice softened. “Long distance isn’t easy. I don’t like that we’re not together right now and won't be tomorrow or the day after. One day we’re going to have to make some big decisions. It shouldn’t be today. It should at least be when you're sober.”

“I love you Aaron.”

“I know, and I love you. You should probably get some sleep.”

“Penelope and I are drinking ghetto martinis, listening to Teenage Fanclub, and talking about leaving home.”

“Penelope is there?” Hotch asked.

“Mmm hmm.”

“She's in the room with you right now.”

“Yeah. Say hi, PG.”

“Hi Agent Hotchner!”

“Hello Penelope. Go now, I’ll call you tomorrow evening alright?”

“Alright. Bye.” She sang it like a song and then ended the call. Emily looked at Penelope and smiled. “He is so fuckin cute.”

“He really is. Here,” she handed off the Grey Goose. “Finish this.”

“OK. Ooh, the song’s starting again…lets sing.”

“She wears denim wherever she goes. Says she's gonna buy some records by the status quo. Oh yeah, ohhh yeah. Still she won't be held against her will. Says she doesn’t do drugs but she does the pill. Oh yeah, ohhh yeah.”

***


End file.
